Government unions negotiate with elected officials for their wages and benefits. The unions give the politicians campaign cash. The politicians give the unions wages and benefits far greater than what you’re getting out there in the private sector. The unions get what they want, the politicians get reelected, and then the unions come back for more. Lather, rinse, repeat.

But you, the taxpayer, are not only paying for these ever-increasing wages and benefits (out of your shrinking salary), you’re also paying for full-time union negotiators. And you’re paying A LOT:

Taxpayers are forking out $4.8 million for 35 union officials at the Department of Transportation. But the beneficiary here isn’t the taxpayer, it’s President Obama, who is raking campaign cash from these unions.

According to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by Americans for Limited Government, 35 officials, representing mostly air traffic controllers’ unions, are members of the $100,000 club among federal employees.

Unlike the average American, or even average DOT employee, these union officials draw an average $138,000 in salary and benefits from the federal government, not to give something of value to the taxpayers, but to work exclusively for their unions — the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (Natca), the AFL-CIO-affiliated Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (Pass) and two others.

Eight make more than $170,000. The lowest-paid gets $80,000. That means taxpayers are actually paying for union efforts to shake down taxpayers for ever higher salaries and benefits for government workers.

In Colorado, “teachers” are paid out of the public’s education funds to do only union duties and not do any teaching. This is the sort of disgusting practice that goes on in school districts across the country and it is a crime on any number of levels.

It’s not about jobs. It’s not about safety. It’s not about improving dockworkers’ living standards. The looming, long-planned East and Gulf Coast port strikes are about protecting Big Labor’s archaic work practices and corrupt waterfront rackets.

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USMX hasn’t even called for eliminating the outdated fees. It just wants to cap them. Under the industry’s contract proposal, ILA’s average hourly rate would increase to more than $55, including overtime and container royalty. Workers would still not be required to pay premiums on their health care plans like most private employers now require their workers to do.

But the union won’t budge, and it is screaming bloody murder over attempts to rein in other inefficiencies.

The additional “customs and practice” that the ILA seeks to preserve are a recipe for corruption. Don’t take industry’s word for it. This was the conclusion this year of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor. Decades of favoritism, nepotism and Mafia-friendly hiring practices have bred inefficient and criminal conditions that benefit “a privileged few.” The union protects no-show and no-work jobs, 24-hour paid work for 8-hour-a-day-or-less clerks, and unlimited paid vacation for shop stewards. ILA has demanded that multiple crane operators be paid for the work of a single operator. And the commission’s hearings exposed ILA bosses tied to mobsters and family members being paid more than $400,000 a year for up to 27 hours a day.